UK
Passivhaus specialist Mike Jacob has joined with award-winning
architect Adrian James to create a flatpack home that takes less than a week to install. Dubbed "Kiss House" the prefabricated
housing model is similar in concept to the Mini House from
a few years back, but on a much bigger and more livable scale.
Offering two,
three and four bedroom versions, the Kiss House is built using
cross-laminated timber (CLT),
which is a sustainable alternative to traditional building methods
such as concrete and steel construction.

"Each
Kiss House shell is made from top quality precision engineered CLT
which is fast becoming recognized as the optimum method of
construction worldwide due its exceptional performance in terms of
energy
performance; strength; fire, acoustic and seismic performance and
sustainability," Mike Jacob, Director of Kiss House tells New
Atlas. "Huge
carefully managed forests mean more trees are planted than cut down
and each Kiss House will regrow in approximately one hour.
I
know it sounds incredible, but it is simply because the managed
forests in Austria are huge and very carefully managed."

The
Kiss model also meets Passivhaus standards, which has a primary focus
of reducing a home's
heating demand and primary energy consumption. The Passivhaus
standard was developed by Professors Bo Adamson of Sweden and
Wolfgang Feist of Germany in the 1990s and describes itself as "a
holistic low energy design concept."

Passivhaus
features include high
insulation;
passive solar gains and thermal mass; air-tightness of a building and
natural indoor air circulation.

"Each
Kiss House is a certifiable Passivhaus," says Jacob. "This
is the international gold standard for energy efficiency in
construction. Passivhaus buildings have exceptional comfort and very
low running costs. There is no better standard for energy or comfort
performance."

The
Kiss House comes in three different versions. Kiss 2.1 which
is a 80 sq m (861 sq ft) two bedroom home with a 53.4 sq m (574.8 sq ft)
footprint. Kiss 3.1 is a 124 sq m (1,334.7 sq ft) three bedroom home
with a footprint of 78.4 sq m (843.9 sq ft) and Kiss 4.1 is a 140 sq m
(1,507 sq ft) four bedroom home with a footprint of 85.8 sq m (923.5 sq
ft).

Each house is prefabricated off site in a series of "panels," allowing the home to be shipped and
transported in a "flatpack." Once delivered on site and
after the concrete slab is prepared, a Kiss House can be
assembled in about three to four days anywhere in the world.

"They
are panelized, so they are shipped in an efficient manner – not
volumetric which means transporting 3D buildings which isn't very
efficient," says Jacob. "They are transported by road or
sea depending on where in the world our client is. We can ship
anywhere and are currently talking to customers all over the world."

The Kiss House features
open-plan living on the ground floor, with a large modern kitchen,
wooden flooring and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Individual
bedrooms and bathrooms are located upstairs on the first floor and
the home is 100 percent airtight. The exterior can be finished in four
different cladding options: traditional masonry (bricks);
metal (zinc, copper, or stainless steel); classic rendering or timber
(larch, cedar, chestnut or others by request).

Each
Kiss dwelling is created and designed to suit the individual owner's
needs and although these are prefabricated homes, they are by no
means carbon copies of each other. The interior and floor-plan can
change for each home and Kiss House can also provide the home as an
empty shell, for buyers to complete the interior however they desire.
What's more, the homes are designed so that they can be reconfigured
over time and grow with a family or individual as their living needs
change and evolve.

Costs
for the Kiss House is case dependent and subject to bespoke
specification, however the homes are designed to offer a high quality
housing product targeting the mid-range price point. A price
guide for a fully fitted Kiss House in
the UK is approximately £2,000 (around US$2,550) per square meter.

Starting
prices for the Kiss export model should be available next month,
with shell only models promised to be highly cost effective.

Each Kiss dwelling is created and designed to suit the individual owner’s needs(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss homes are designed so that they can be reconfigured
over time and grow with a family or individual as their living needs
change and evolve(Credit: Kiss House)

Individual bedrooms and bathrooms are located upstairs on the first floor(Credit: Kiss House)

A sample of the Kiss House bathroom(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss House exterior clad in bricks(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss House rendering(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss house design model(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss 2.1 floorplan ground floor(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss 2.1 floorplan upstairs(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss 3.1 floorplan ground floor(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss 3.1 floorplan upstairs(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss 4.1 floorplan ground floor(Credit: Kiss House)

Kiss 4.1 floorplan upstairs(Credit: Kiss House)

UPGRADE TO NEW ATLAS PLUS

Our new premium service is backed by 15 years of experience covering science, technology and innovation. New Atlas Plus delivers a visual experience that is cleaner, faster loading and ad free. Join the growing list of Plus subscribers for just US$19 a year.